Kyushu Electric Power announced on November 26, 2018, that it and Mitsui will jointly launch a demonstration project to offer services that utilize a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Platform to lower the electricity bill for residential PV system owners. The project will utilize battery storage, which will be controlled and aggregated by a Dynamic VPP platform based on software developed by Sunverge, a U.S. company. The system is planned to launch ahead of the expiration of Japan’s feed-in tariff (FiT) for renewable energy.

The system is expected to optimize solar power generation and lower electricity bills for customers. In addition, the project aims to develop Kyushu Electric Power’s technological understanding of VPP and battery storage to help the company design new businesses and services to balance electricity demand and supply, and to stabilize the power grid system. The project will be conducted for approximately one year, starting in spring 2019.